a mother drone with 16 tons of surprises

If drones are the weapons of present and futureChina is several galaxies ahead of the rest of the planet with a single architecture. HE called Jiu Tianand it is the evolution of old war aircraft carriers adapted to new times: a huge mother plane that has just successfully completed its first overhaul.

The rise of the aerial mother. China has given a decisive step in the global race for dominance of unmanned airspace with the inaugural flight of the Jiutian, a 16-ton colossus that not only symbolizes the maturity of its aeronautical industry, but also marks a turning point in the very conception of air power in the 21st century.

Although officially presented as a civil platform Versatile for heavy transportation, emergency communications or advanced mapping, the Jiutian (next to the Jetankits version more openly oriented towards dual missions) represents the culmination of a strategy in which drones cease to be simple support vectors and become motherships capable of releasing swarmstransport loitering munitions, and completely alter the way the military views saturation operations, electronic warfare, and spectrum control.

And much more. The official media they have insisted after its first test in modularity and the diversity of civilian roles, but the combination of load capacity, range, autonomy and mission architecture has aroused interest that goes far beyond the commercial: it is the birth of the “aircraft carriers of the sky” (or rather drone carriers), platforms that are inserted in the global strategic competition.

The metamorphosis of the drone. The first characteristic that distinguishes the Jiutian (and the Jetank) is its size. At 16.35 meters in length and 25 meters in wingspan, it is placed in an unprecedented category: large tonnage drones with the capacity to transport 6,000 kilos of payload. Added to this is an autonomy of 12 hours and a range of 7,000 kilometers, figures that were previously only associated with manned transport or ISR aircraft.

This structural base allows mounting mission modules completely interchangeable: from high-precision logistics containers to communications capsules to restore networks in disaster situations. However, beneath that multifunction façade hides the real qualitative leap: an internal compartment “hive” type capable of hosting dozens to more than a hundred smaller drones or loitering munitions, along with eight external points from which guided weapons, air-to-air missiles, glider bombs or electronic warfare charges can be launched.

Two versions of the same revolution. The figures presented by the Chinese developers show that the two models share dimensions, maximum takeoff weight, payload and autonomy, which indicates that Jiutian and Jetank are part of the same family of megadrones aimed at covering everything from logistical needs to complex military missions. One where the Jetank stands out is in the more explicit emphasis on its ability to launch swarms in mid-flight and change roles in a few hours thanks to mission modules that are quickly assembled.

Chinese analysts describe it as a “world-class” platformcapable of acting as a multipurpose transporter, swarm nurse, electronic warfare vector and even light bomber with precision munitions. Its open architecture system allows you to process, integrate and update sensors and software in an agile way, which transforms the drone on a flexible node within a broader network of manned and unmanned systems. In essence, both models are not simple UAVs: they are aerial ecosystems capable of adapting their function to any tactical or strategic scenario.

A doctrine of formation. The real value of these drone carriers lies not only in their size or the weapons they can carry, but in the ability to release swarms of small drones (including kamikaze UAVs) that introduces a dynamic that surpasses the traditional logic of combat aviation. For example, a single Jiutian could deploy a swarm sufficient to overwhelm anti-aircraft systemscollapse sensors, overwhelm radars and allow other platforms to penetrate previously insurmountable defenses.

In parallel, its autonomy allows, a priori, that the combination of reconnaissance, attack, electronic warfare and saturation be integrated into a single extended missionsomething that has rarely existed in unmanned platforms of this size. In recent conflicts like the one in Ukrainedrones have proven to be low-cost weapons with a disproportionate impact: their ability to destroy much more expensive equipment has rewritten the relationship between investment and military effect. China, with these developments, appears to have internalized that lesson and taken it a step further: from individual drones to turning one larger drone into the matrix from which hundreds are deployed.

The future and 2049. He Jiutian development It is part of Xi Jinping’s goal of turning the Chinese Armed Forces into a “world-class army” by 2049. The exhibition in Zhuhai the previous year had already shown prototypes of combat drones equipped with AI capable of operating in tandem with manned fighters, and the flight of Jiutian confirms that the country is accelerating the technological pillars necessary to sustain a network combat model: megadrones, distributed artificial intelligence, swarms, modular sensors and platforms capable of exerting pressure on any regional theater.

From that perspective, Jiutian and Jetank become in fundamental pieces for surveillance, reconnaissance, electromagnetic interference, saturation attacks and power projection missions in remote scenarios. Its design does not respond to an isolated program, but to a broader strategic architecture that China is perfecting to sustain its military rise.

Image | CCTV, EPL

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